West EMS Director Dr. George Smith on the chaos caused by the West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion

Rescue workers are spending Tuesday morning going home-to-home, business-to-business - searching for people trapped or injured after the massive explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas - near Waco. The blast was so powerful that it registered as a 2.1 magnitude, seismic event and wiped out everything for blocks.

Initial estimates by police say as many as five to 15 people have died. Firefighters who responded to a blaze that preceded the explosion could be among them. More than 160 people are being treated at area hospitals.

This morning West EMS Director Dr. George Smith joins “Early Start” by phone to discuss the aftermath of the Texas fertilizer plant explosion.

Smith who also serves as the Medical Director for a Nursing home in the area says “I think we probably saved some lives by getting some people on the other side of the nursing home.” Shortly after relocating some of the nursing home members, Smith says “the windows and the ceilings… fell in on me.”

Between seven and 10 nursing home residents weren’t accounted for in the chaos of the explosion says Smith. “They may have been picked up by family members. We don’t know because it was very very hectic,” he adds.